Dark Matter #2 by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Scullie was released yesterday, so I dropped by Silver Snail at lunch and picked it up along with a copy of Green Lantern #6. The second in the four-part series, #2 picks up with our heroes 40 seconds away from being blown up by missiles shot at them by another ship that they know nothing about. Fortunately, they make it out of the encounter safely so we get to learn more about the ship they’re on and where they’re going.

Their robot companion has been able to recover some information from the ship’s computer and they determine they’re en route to a planet. When they arrive, they meet quadrium miners on the planet who are happy enough to help them repair their ship, but curiously would like them to do so very quickly before some aliens known as the Raza show up and kill everyone. The miners are waiting for help to arrive, but the Raza are going to arrive first, so things don’t look too hopeful.

Still, our heroes break out into committee and a majority vote to give the miners most of the weapons that have found in the storage holds of their ship, which is the mission they appear to have been on before they lost their memories. And then the robot discovers information about who they are in the ship’s computer.

Overall, I’m still enjoying the series. The storyline is progressing nicely and has the feel of shows such as Firefly and Stargate Universe, but rest assured that Dark Matter isn’t just those shows in different packaging. Dark Matter #1 introduced the situation and the ship, while in Dark Matter #2 we see the story developing the characters in more depth (well, as deep as a bunch of amnesiacs lost in space can be), giving them a moral/ethical challenge in the form of the miners who need help to introducing a dilemma at the end of the issue.